


Rinse Charming

by tinyarmedtrex



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: College AU, Laundromat, M/M, meet cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:22:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24377206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinyarmedtrex/pseuds/tinyarmedtrex
Summary: Eddie has always enjoyed his quiet Thursdays alone at the laundromat until a stranger who has never done laundry shows up and interrupts everything
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak & Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 21
Kudos: 180





	Rinse Charming

Eddie loved his Thursday late nights at the laundromat. Things were quiet, usually just him and the gentle hum of the machines. Everything smelled fresh and clean and he could use as many washers and dryers as he wanted without feeling guilty. It was easy to bring some homework and finish it while he watched the stains tumble out of his clothes. It was a nice, quiet routine. 

Until this week. Eddie had just transferred his clothes to the dryer when the door opened. Eddie’s head snapped up to look at the new arrival. It wasn’t anyone he recognized, none of his usually laundry partners. No, this guy was new, about Eddie’s age, and soon Eddie concluded that he’d never done laundry in his life. 

When he came in he was carrying his clothes in a trash bag. Eddie watched as the man unceremoniously dumped everything into a washing machine, not bothering to separate them by type or color. Eddie’s lip curled in disgust as the guy poured at least three times the recommended detergent in. He couldn’t stop watching, it was like a slow motion car crash that he couldn’t look away from. His brain kept silently correcting everything the other man was doing wrong. 

Eddie thought he was being subtle, watching him, until the guy looked right at him and said, “Hey cutie, do you wanna take a picture? It’ll last longer.” He added an obnoxious wink at the end that made Eddie flush. 

“I’m only watching because you’re fucking it up.” Eddie snapped back.

The guy looked down at his laundry. “I put the clothes in and added detergent. Isn’t that what you do?” 

“No!” Eddie strode over and looked in the washing machine. “You overfilled it. And you used way too much detergent. And you didn’t separate out your clothes! Have you ever done this before?”

The guy shrugged, looking embarrassed. “I didn’t know you could do it wrong.” 

Eddie was already elbow deep in the clothes, pulling out the ripped jeans and denim jacket. “These need to go in a separate load.” He threw them into the new washer. “And so do-” He paused, realizing that he had grabbed a pair of hot tamale boxer shorts. 

Eddie dropped them, knowing he was brought red now. “These.” He finished lamely.

“Man at least buy me dinner first.” The guy said, grinning at him.

“Fuck you.” The retort didn’t have any heat. Eddie looked back at his pile of homework. “I have better things to do.” Eddie started to turn, utterly embarrassed by what he had just done. Just because the guy was an idiot didn’t mean Eddie needed to plunge his hands into the man’s clothes. 

“No, hey wait.” The guy called and Eddie looked back, seeing that the other man was watching him helplessly. “Can you help me? I’m clearly an idiot.” 

Eddie hesitated, looking the guy over for the first time. He had curly dark hair pulled into a bun, thick, smudged glasses and he was tall, obnoxiously so. And lanky. He reminded Eddie of laffy taffy, pulled and stretched. He was cute, Eddie realized, annoyed with himself. He was cute and Eddie had been a jerk. Pretty standard for Eddie if he was being honest with himself. 

“You aren’t an idiot.” Eddie mumbled. “You’re just- an adult who doesn’t know how to do laundry.”

The guy laughed, his head tilting back and exposing his Adam’s apple. “Not sure those two things are much different.” Then he stuck his hand out. “I’m Richie.”

Eddie put his hand in Richie’s, somehow unsurprised when Richie gave it three hearty pumps. “Eddie.”

“Well Eds what do you say? Will you help a fellow laundry-er out?”

“It’s Eddie. And yes. Only because you’re so pitiful.”

“Pity is exactly what I was going for.” Richie replied, a wide grin stretching across his face. Something about it made Eddie’s heart beat a little faster. 

He ignored it though, instead pointing to Richie’s laundry. “You need to separate out lights and darks and-” He paused on the boxers again. “Delicates.”

“Aw baby, nothing about me is delicate.” 

“The hole in the ass of those says differently.” Eddie said, pointing to a pair of boxers that had different types of dice printed on them. 

“It’s a hole of opportunity.” Richie replied, grabbing the boxers and sorting them. Eddie opted not to reply to that one, answering questions Richie had and occasionally correcting him. Richie cracked jokes the entire time. Eddie had had no idea how many laundry puns there were but Richie seemed to find and use all of them in that short span of time. It was strangely adorable, like much of Richie seemed to be. 

“There, now you can finally start.” Eddie said ten minutes later. “Use the lid of your detergent to measure.” Carefully, Richie poured detergent into the washers then, finally, put his quarters in and selected a wash cycle. Eddie had the satisfaction of watching it fill with water, knowing that Richie’s clothes would come out perfectly laundered. 

“How can I ever repay you? You’re a laundry godsend.” 

Eddie shrugged, wondering if he dared offer a date, when his dryer went off, the buzz ratcheting through the small space. 

“Do you want help folding?” Richie asked, following Eddie as he went to the dryers, pulling his warm clothes from the dryers. 

“Do you know how to fold?” Eddie asked, chuckling when Richie shook his head. “Then no.” 

As Eddie started to fold and separate his laundry Richie hopped up on the dryer, leaning towards him. “So, come here often?”

“That’s a terrible line.” Eddie muttered, ignoring how close Richie was. He smelled like bubble gum and cigarettes and Eddie knew he’d be thinking about that smell for days. 

“Not if it works.” 

Eddie glanced up, meeting Richie’s bright green eyes with his own. “Every Thursday.” 

Richie’s face broke into a delighted grin. “I love a man with a schedule.” He pulled out his phone, pushing it towards Eddie. “You should add your number, in case I have more laundry related emergencies.”

Eddie hesitated for only a second before reaching over and putting his number in. The excitement on Richie’s face gave him butterflies. 

“I’m about done.” Eddie said, putting his neatly folded laundry back into his carrying bag. He was reluctant to leave. “But I’ll be back next week?”

“It’s a date.” Richie promised. 

Eddie was barely out the door when he got a text from an unknown number. It was a picture of a red sock and underneath it said ‘I can throw this in with all my white shirts right?’ Eddie was about to turn around and stop Richie when another text came in, ‘ha ha just kidding, even I’m not that dumb. See u next week Eds’.

For the next week Eddie was on cloud nine. Richie texted him constantly throughout the week, mostly about random things. Eddie found out that Richie went to a nearby college and was living on his own for the first time, his roommate had just moved in with his boyfriend. He seemed lonely, like he’d never had to spend time alone. Eddie had lived alone since he was eighteen but had to admit he liked having someone to talk to. 

Thursdays quickly became Eddie’s favorite day of the week. He loved seeing Richie and learning more about him. And Richie seemed genuinely interested in Eddie. He found himself telling stories that he normally wouldn’t, ones about his mom and childhood. Richie never made him feel strange or awkward about it, he would just listen, occasionally taking Eddie’s hand if he got too overwhelmed. The two had an immediate connection, something that Eddie hadn’t felt in a long time. 

He forced himself to enjoy it and not overthink the situation. It had been nearly a month and Richie still hadn’t asked him out on an official date. Not that Eddie didn’t enjoy their chats on the washing machines but he wanted more, he wanted late night dinners and early morning coffee. 

Finally, after a lot of complaining to his friends, Eddie decided to take matters into his own hands. He was going to ask Richie to dinner that night. If he said no, well, at least Eddie would finally know where they stood. He changed his outfit at least three times before reminding himself that he was going to do laundry. 

To his surprise Richie was already there, his laundry already separated. “How’d I do?” Richie asked, grabbing Eddie’s bag as he walked in. Richie probably didn’t need Eddie to inspect his laundry anymore, the man had even purchased his own dryer balls, but Eddie got a small thrill every time he asked. 

“It looks good.” He said, looking over the piles. Then he noticed a small separate bag with drawstrings. “What’s in there? Dirty socks?”

“Um,” Richie hung a hand on the back of his neck. “Not quite.” He pulled the bag open, revealing an assortment of cheese and crackers and even a bottle of wine.

“I thought we could-” Richie paused. “I hope this isn't weird. I wanted to ask you out that first day but I chickened out. And now it’s been weeks and it feels weird to just ask but I still wanted to but I didn’t want to pressure you so I thought this would be cute- well my friend Bev thought it would be- and she’s usually right about this stuff. Unless she’s not? Fuck I don’t know. Did I make it weird, I made it weird didn’t I?”

“Richie!” Eddie stepped forward, taking Richie’s hands and interrupting his ramble. “You didn’t make it weird. I was going to ask you out tonight.” 

“Yea?” Eddie nodded and Richie exhaled, looking relieved. “Well you still should. I’m not sure this actually counts as a date.”

“It does.” Eddie promised, looking back at the spread. Richie had brought all of his favorites and he even saw hand wipes stuffed in the back. It was one of the sweetest things anyone had ever done for him. “It really does.” 

**Author's Note:**

> The temptation to draw this out was real but I think it works as a lovely short fic.


End file.
